The present invention relates to drinking water supply containers and more particularly to a drinking water supply container having a removably mounted filter device for filtering water extracted from the canteen.
The term "drinking water supply container" as used herein refers to a bottle or a canteen or any other container for holding a drinking liquid which has an opening which can be sealed off with a removable cap.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,781 there is disclosed a runner's portable water supply which comprises a water bottle with a special cap and sipping tube. The sipping tube is curved and only slightly flexible so that it can be bent, but retains its shape if the wearer does not bend it. The cap fits into the bottle neck in a liquid tight coupling and has a first interior surface slidably mating with the tube in a substantially liquid tight coupling and has a second interior tunnel permitting gas to enter the bottle but deflecting liquid so that liquid cannot splash out of the bottle. The bottle is coupled to a selected part of the wear's body with the upper end of the tube near the wearer's mouth and the lower end of the tube near the bottom interior surface of the bottle. Air flows into the bottle as liquid is sipped out. The bottle need not be held.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,550 there is disclosed a water purifying system which includes an elongate chambered purifying assembly sized to be detachably mounted in a conventional canteen. The assembly is provided with an internal chamber filled with a particulate water purifying material and concentric tubes within the chamber require water flowing into the chamber through a filtered inlet at the bottom of the assembly to flow an extended chambered flow path through the purifying material to an outlet at the top of the assembly. The assembly includes a manually operable pump for presurizing said container, thereby pumping water from the canteen through the purifying assembly.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,443,336 there is disclosed a portable filter unit comprising an outer flexible container including top, an upper compartment of flexible material enclosed in the container, a lower compartment of flexible material enclosed in the container, a tube communicating between the lower compartment and the upper end of the container and including an upper end and a lower end, a rigid filter means mounted in the container intermediate the compartment, and a filter means including a pair of separate filter units, one communicating between the upper and lower compartments and the other between the lower compartment and the lower end of said tube, respectively.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,491,520 there is disclosed a filter for a conventional water jug having a valved tap near the bottom of its cylindrical side wall comprises a pan-like case member that seats in the bottom of the jug and has a filter cartridge removably sealed across its open top. An aperture in the axially short cylindrical side wall of the case member communicates its interior with the inwardly projecting tubular tap inlet. A radially projecting tubular collar on the case member cooperates with an O-ring to provide a seal between the interior of the case member and the tap inlet. A tacky, water-insoluble adhesive area on the underside of the bottom wall of the case member secures it to the bottom wall of a jug. The filter cartridge can comprise blow molded shell halves, filter paper dics, and activated charcoal confined between the discs.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,475 there is disclosed a portable water purifier comprising an elongated tube having a filtering agent, a bactericidal agent and an absorbent material retained in the tube. The user supplies suction from the mouth to draw water through the tube for filtering out foreign material and purifying the water prior to use.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,090,650 a canteen is provided with a drinking straw extending through the top of the screw cap of the canteen. The straw may be pushed substantially completely into the canteen when the straw is not used or it may be withdrawn from the canteen to a substantial length such that one may drink from the canteen without removing it, for example, from a belt. The screw cap and canteen neck are provided with cooperating elements which pinch the straw closed in the closed position of the cap.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,731,717 there is disclosed an improved protective mask means having a drinking and resuscitation connection means to permit drinking and resuscitation while wearing the mask in a contaminated atmosphere.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,389,803 there is disclosed an orally operable water filter comprising a housing having a mouthpiece on one end and a retaining cap on the other end all enclosing a pair of filter plates spaced from each other between which activiated carbon is disposed, and also comprising a bacteria filter in an end opposite the mouth piece end; said bacteria filter being protected by a pair of screens disposed on opposite sides thereof.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,738,105 there is disclosed a canteen comprising a canteen case having an apertured portion, a cap releasably mounted on said apertured portion, a suction drinking tube affixed to an extending generally coaxially with said cap into the interior of said canteen case, a filtering element comprising a plurality of disks mounted on an apertured tube, said apertured tube having its upper end extending into an annular opening in the bottom of said cap and engaging an annular flange of said cap, means releasably secured to the lower end of said drinking tube for pressing said filtering element into engagement with said cap, a pressure equalizing tube extending into said case, and a check valve on said pressure equalizing tube preventing flow of liquid from said case to said equalizing tube.
It is an object of this invention to provide a filter device for use with a drinking water supply container.
It is another object of this invention to provide a drinking water supply container assembly which includes a filter device for removing contaminants which might be present in the water contained therein and wherein the liquid is extracted through the filter device by suction.
It is yet still another object of this invention to provide a new and improved filter device for use in canteens, sports bottles and other containers for holding drinking water and which does not include any pumping mechanism to assist in extracting the water.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a drinking water supply container assembly which includes a filter device having no moving parts and which does not have to be held by the user to extract water from inside the container.